Method and apparatus for sending and receiving multi-carrier information in multi-carrier communication system

ABSTRACT

A method for operating a plurality of carriers by a user equipment in a wireless communication system supporting a primary carrier and at least one secondary carrier, the method includes transmitting, to a base station, carrier capability information; receiving, from the base station, carrier configuration information, the carrier configuration information including an index of the at least one secondary carrier configured for the user equipment, the carrier configuration information being based upon the carrier capability information of the user equipment, the primary carrier being configured as a carrier for performing an initial network entry procedure; receiving, from the base station, a control channel including information regarding multi-carrier operation through the primary carrier; and transmitting, to the base station, traffic through one of the at least one secondary carrier based on the information regarding multi-carrier operation.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This Application is a Continuation of co-pending U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/248,106 filed on Apr. 8, 2014, which is a Continuation ofU.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/124,087 filed on May 16, 2011 (nowU.S. Pat. No. 8,724,565 issued on May 13, 2014), which is filed as theNational Phase of PCT/KR2009/005945 filed on Oct. 15, 2009, which claimsthe benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e) to U.S. Provisional Application No.61/105,434 filed on Oct. 15, 2008, all of which are hereby expresslyincorporated by reference into the present application.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Field of the Invention

This specification relates to a multi-carrier communication system, andmore particularly, a method and apparatus for sending and receivingmulti-carrier system information for multi-carrier operations.

Discussion of the Related Art

As communication technologies develop, services provided in a mobilecommunication system are developing into various types of services, suchas a packet data transmission/reception service for sending largecapacity data, a multimedia broadcast service and the like, as well as avoice communication service.

The third generation communication services, such as WCDMA and the like,which are currently being provided, support transmission of not onlyvoice but also large capacity image and data at a high transmissionrate. In addition, standardization of Long-Term Evolution Network (LTE),Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.16m and thelike are actively undergoing in order to construct an evolved networkhaving a wider bandwidth, considering that data traffic will beremarkably increased later.

IEEE802.16m, for which the standardization is in progress, aims todevelopment of a standard, which meets IMT-advanced system requirementswith maintaining compatibility with the existing 802.16 standard-basedterminal and base station equipment. First of all, the IMT-advancedsystem requires provisions for broadband communication services over 40MHz. So, in order to satisfy the requirements of the IMT-advancedsystem, IEEE802.16m has to be able to support such broadbandcommunications. However, standard definition for every bandwidth issubstantially difficult. Hence, a communication system using amulti-carrier, which is supposed to support a broadband using aplurality of carriers, is being discussed. The multi-carrier typesystem, which is being discussed in IEEE802.16m, allows a terminal and abase station to simultaneously access at least two frequency assignments(FAs) and perform data transmission and reception therebetween.Accordingly, the multi-carrier type system has an advantage of ahigh-speed transmission and reception of large capacity data, ascompared to the existing single-carrier type. Also, communications canbe carried out with using a broader bandwidth depending on situationsfrom the perspective of the terminal (Mobile Station, MS), while moreusers can be covered from the perspective of the base station (BS).

The system supporting the multi-carrier can operate both in a singlemode of performing communications using a single carrier and in amulti-mode of performing communications using a plurality of carriers.For the multi-mode operation, system information related to whether tosupport a multi-carrier operation and carrier allocation should beexchanged between a base station and a terminal.

However, at present, any detailed description of the multi-carriersystem has not been given. Furthermore, several problems may occur whenthe multi-carrier system information providing method is performedaccording to the same manner as the related art system informationproviding method in the single mode.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Therefore, an object of the present invention is to provide a method forefficiently sending and receiving multi-carrier related systeminformation in a system, which supports multi-carrier operations.

To achieve these and other advantages and in accordance with the purposeof the present disclosure, as embodied and broadly described herein,there is provided a method for sending and receiving multi-carrierinformation, the method including sending by a base station systeminformation to the terminal via a broadcast message, the systeminformation regarding multi-carriers that the base station is able tosupport, receiving a unicast message from the terminal, the unicastmessage including information related to carriers that the terminal isable to support or prefers in the multi-carrier list included in thesystem information, and sending multi-carrier allocation informationincluding a primary carrier and a second carrier that the terminal willuse, to the terminal via a unicast message.

Preferably, in the method for sending and receiving the multi-carrierinformation, the primary carrier may be a carrier capable of sending andreceiving data traffic and Physical layer (PHY)/Medium Access Control(MAC) control information between the terminal and the base station, andthe secondary carrier may be a carrier capable of sending and receivinga downlink data traffic between the terminal and the base station.

Preferably, in the method for sending and receiving the multi-carrierinformation, the broadcast message may be an Additional BroadcastInformation (ABI) message receivable by the terminal during or evenafter a network entry procedure.

Preferably, in the method for sending and receiving the multi-carrierinformation, the system information may include information indicatingwhether or not the base station supports multi-carrier operations,information related to the number of carriers supported by the basestation, index information related to each carrier, type informationrelated to each carrier, center frequency information related to eachcarrier and bandwidth information related to each carrier.

Also, in the system information, the center frequency informationrelated to each carrier may indicate a relative position of thecorresponding carrier expressed as a bit value, based on a centerfrequency of a carrier currently accessed to the system.

Preferably, in the method for sending and receiving the multi-carrierinformation, the unicast message received from the terminal may includethe carrier information that the terminal is able to support or prefersas an index value or in a bitmap form.

Preferably, in the method for sending and receiving the multi-carrierinformation, the unicast message sent to the terminal may includeinformation related to the primary and secondary carriers that theterminal will use, as an index value or in a bitmap form.

To achieve the object of this specification in accordance with oneexemplary embodiment, a method for sending and receiving multi-carrierinformation in a terminal supporting the multi-carrier may includereceiving system information from a base station via a broadcastmessage, the system information regarding multi-carriers that the basestation is able to support, configuring carrier information that theterminal is able to support or prefers in the multi-carrier listincluded in the system information, as an index value or in a bitmapform, sending the carrier information configured as the index value orin the bitmap form to the base station via a unicast message, andreceiving multi-carrier allocation information including a primarycarrier and a secondary carrier from the base station via a unicastmessage.

Preferably, in the method for sending and receiving the multi-carrierinformation, the system information may include information indicatingwhether or not the base station supports multi-carrier operations,information related to the number of carriers supported by the basestation, index information related to each carrier, type informationrelated to each carrier, center frequency information related to eachcarrier and bandwidth information related to each carrier.

Preferably, in the method for sending and receiving the multi-carrierinformation, the unicast message sent to the base station may furtherinclude information indicating whether or not the terminal supportsmulti-carrier operations, information related to the number of carrierssupported by the terminal and index information related to each carrier.

Preferably, in the method for sending and receiving the multi-carrierinformation, the unicast message received from the base station mayinclude the information related to the primary and secondary carriersthat the terminal will use, as an index value or in a bitmap form.

In accordance with the detailed description, in a system supporting amulti-carrier, a broadcast message and a unicast message may beappropriately used to send multi-carrier related information, resultingin an effect of dispersing overheads of a broadcast channel and aunicast channel.

Also, frequency information related to a plurality of carriers can besent by being expressed as relative position values, thereby reducing anamount of control information.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a view illustrating a multi-carrier system in accordance withone exemplary embodiment;

FIG. 2 is a view schematically illustrating an architecture of PHY/MAClayer in the multi-carrier system in accordance with the one exemplaryembodiment;

FIG. 3 is a view schematically illustrating a frame structure in themulti-carrier system;

FIG. 4 is a view illustrating a process of sending and receivingmulti-carrier system information for multi-carrier mode operationsbetween a base station and a terminal;

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating one exemplary embodiment of a framestructure supporting a multi-carrier;

FIG. 6 is a view illustrating a structure of a multi-carrier frameincluding 8 consecutive carriers with 5 MHz bandwidth; and

FIG. 7 is a view illustrating a structure of a multi-carrier frameincluding eight consecutive carriers with 5 MHz and 10 MHz bandwidths.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Reference will now be made in detail to the preferred embodiments ofthis specification with reference to the accompanying drawings. Thesame/like components irrespective of reference numerals will have thesame reference numerals and repeated description thereof will beomitted. If it is determined that detailed description of a relatedwell-known technology makes the point of this specification obscure, thedetailed description will be omitted. Also, the accompanying drawingsare merely given to help easy understanding of the scope of the presentdisclosure, and it should be noticed that the accompanying drawingsshould not be construed to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Hereinafter, the term ‘terminal’ used herein may be replaced withSubscriber Station (SS), User Equipment (UE), Mobile Equipment (ME) andMobile Station (MS). Also, the terminal may be a portable device havinga communication function, such as a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA),smart phone, a laptop computer and the like, or a non-portable device,such as a Personal Computer (PC), a vehicle mounted apparatus and thelike.

FIG. 1 is a view schematically illustrating a multi-carrier system inaccordance with one exemplary embodiment.

As shown in FIG. 1, in a multi-carrier mode as illustrated in thisspecification, at least two carriers may be allocated to terminals 103and 105 by a base station 1 so as to be used for data transmission andreception and the like. For the sake of explanation, an exemplaryembodiment using four carriers RF1, RF2, RF3 and RF4 is illustratedhereinafter. The base station 101 may allocate a plurality of carriersRF1, RF2 and RF3 to the terminal 103, which can thus use them in amulti-carrier mode, and the carrier RF4 to the another terminal 105.Here, the first terminal 103 uses at least one carrier so as to operatein a multi-mode, and the second terminal 105 uses the single carrier soas to operate a single mode.

The base station 101 may divide types of multi-carriers into a fullyconfigured carrier type and a partially configured carrier type. Thefully configured carrier may be defined as a carrier capable of sendingand receiving uplink/downlink data and physical layer (PHY)/mediumaccess control (MAC) control information, and the partially configuredcarrier may be defined as a carrier capable of sending downlink data andminimum control information.

Referring to FIG. 1, RF1 and RF2 of the carriers allocated to the firstterminal 103 correspond to the fully configured carriers, which allowfor transmission and reception of uplink/downlink data andterminal-related PHY/MAC control information. RF3 allocated to the firstterminal 103 corresponds to a partially configured carrier, which allowsfor transmission and reception of downlink data and part of controlinformation related to the data transmission. RF4 allocated to thesecond terminal 105 corresponds to a fully configured carrier, whichallows for uplink/downlink data transmission and reception andterminal-related PHY/MAC control information. A single mode typeterminal such as the second terminal 105 may be allocated with only onecarrier RF4. Hence, RF4 may preferably be a fully configured carriertype.

From the perspective of the terminals 103 and 105, the types of carriersallocated from the base station 101 may be divided into a primarycarrier and a secondary carrier. Preferably, a terminal may be allocatedwith one primary carrier and a plurality of secondary carriers from abase station. In this specification, the primary carrier may be used fortransmission and reception of data traffic and PHY/MAC controlinformation between a terminal and a base station, and function as acarrier, which is generally used for a control function, such as anetwork entry of the terminal. Also, the secondary carrier may furtherbe allocated to a terminal according to a request of the terminal or aresource allocation command of the base station, and be typically usedas a carrier for transmission and reception of data traffic.

Still referring to FIG. 1, RF1 or RF2 allocated to the terminal 103 maybe a primary carrier, and RF3 may be a secondary carrier. Similarly, RF4allocated to the terminal 105 may serve as a primary carrier. Asillustrated in FIG. 1, the multi-carrier system can supportsimultaneously both the terminal 103 supporting the multi-carrier andthe terminal 105 supporting the single carrier. Also, the multi-modeterminal 103 supporting the multi-carrier may operate in the single modeusing only a single carrier depending on data traffic. However,irrespective of operating in the multi-mode or the single mode, at leastone carrier should be allocated to a terminal, and when only one carrieris allocated, the corresponding carrier functions as a primary carrier.

The primary carrier of a terminal is a fully configured carrier definedin a base station. A carrier, which performs an initial network entryprocedure, is designated as the primary carrier. The secondary carriermay be set to a fully configured carrier or a partially configuredcarrier, and further be allocated according to request or instruction ofa terminal or base station. Preferably, a terminal may send and receiveevery control information and information related to the secondarycarrier via the primary carrier, and generally receive informationrelated to transmission and reception of downlink data via the secondarycarrier.

FIG. 2 is a view schematically illustrating an architecture of a PHY/MAClayer in the multi-carrier system in accordance with the one exemplaryembodiment.

As illustrated, the multi-carrier system may be configured such that onecommon Medium Access Control (MAC) 201 is cooperative with a pluralityof carriers 207 and 209 via physical layers (PHYs) 203 and 205.

One Protocol Data Unit (PDU) as a basic data unit generated in a MAC endis transferred to each of the PHYs 203 and 205 via physical layerservice access points (PHY SAPs). A channel coding and modulationprocess is performed at the PHYs 203 and 205, and symbol sequences ofthe modulated PHY PDUs are sent to a receiving end via Radio Frequency(RF) carriers 207 and 209.

Here, MAC PDU may be sent via a single carrier. However, fortransmission efficiency, the MAC PDU may be segmented to be sent via aplurality of carriers. The dotted lines in FIG. 2 indicate a structurethat data generated from one MAC PDU undergoes the channel coding andmodulation process at the PHYs and is segmented to be then transmittedvia two separate carriers. PDU segmentation/concatenation at a PHY endcorresponds to a section for performing the segmentation/concatenationof one MAC PDU.

FIG. 3 is a view schematically illustrating a frame structure of asystem supporting the multi-carrier mode.

A frame structure of each carrier in the multi-carrier system isbasically the same as the frame structure of the system supporting thesingle carrier. FIG. 3 illustrates supporting of both a single modeterminal and a multi-mode terminal by one frame structure.

The frame structure transferred via one carrier may include a frame of 5ms as a basic element, and the frame may correspond to a basic singletransmission unit.

The frame may include a plurality of transmission time intervals (TTI)each having a different size. The TTI is a basic unit of schedulingperformed at a medium access control (MAC) layer. The TTI may be a radioresource allocation unit. The frame may include at least one subframewhose size depends on the number of symbols. Also, a superframe isconfigured with a plurality of frames. The superframe may be configuredin the unit of, for example, 20 ms. When a superframe is configured,system configuration information and broadcast information for aninitial fast cell selection and low latency service are set as atransmission unit, and in general, two to six frames form a singlesuperframe. In addition, each frame in the unit of 5 ms includes aplurality of subframes, and each subframe includes a plurality ofOFDM/OFDMA symbols. Each superframe includes a single superframe header(SFH) including a broadcast channel, and the SFH is positioned at afirst subframe of the corresponding superframe.

In general, each terminal may be controlled by one carrier defined as aprimary carrier. When a multi-carrier operation is supported, one ormore secondary carriers may be allocated. For example, a terminal 1 hasonly one allocated carrier MC5 so as to operate in a single mode, and aterminal 2 has two allocated carriers MC3 and MC4 and a terminal 3 hasthree allocated carriers MC1, MC2 and MC3, so they operate in amulti-mode. Hence, for the terminal 2 and the terminal 3, one or morenarrow bandwidth carriers may be concatenated to support broadbandmulti-carrier operations.

FIG. 4 illustrates a procedure of sending and receiving multi-carriersystem information for multi-carrier mode operations between a basestation and a terminal in accordance with one exemplary embodiment.

The base station sends system information related to multi-carriers,which it is able to support, to the terminal (S401).

Methods of sending the multi-carrier related information from the basestation to the terminal may include a method using a broadcast messageand a method using a unicast message.

When the base station sends the system information to the terminal usinga broadcast message, the base station may use a fixed downlink controlchannel, such as a Super Frame Header (SFH) or a Broadcast Channel(BCH), or a burst downlink broadcast message, such as an AdditionalBroadcast Information (ABI) message or a broadcast MAC managementmessage. The SFH may be used when the terminal performs a network entryand sent to a physically fixed position, and accordingly havelimitations of types of information to be sent. The ABI can be receivedduring or even after the network entry of the terminal, and sent to theterminal in a burst form. The multi-carrier allocation in themulti-carrier system may be performed during or even after the networkentry. Hence, it is preferable to send system information to theterminal by using the burst broadcast message such as the ABI.

Also, the base station may send system information related to themulti-carrier to the terminal via the unicast message in response to theterminal request or voluntarily.

In addition, when the base station determines, in the aspect of a loadbalancing, that the terminal performing the network entry procedureneeds to change a primary carrier, the base station may indicate theprimary carrier change to the terminal using a unicast message.

In this case, examples of the unicast messages, which are useable duringthe network entry, may include a ranging response message (RNG-RSP), aservice basic capability response message (SBC-RSP), a registrationresponse message (REG-RSP) and the like, and a separate unicast messagemay be defined and used after the network entry.

The system information transferred by the base station may includeinformation related to whether or not the base station supports themulti-carrier operation, information related to the number ofsupportable carriers, index information related to each carrier, typeinformation related to each carrier, center frequency informationrelated to each carrier, bandwidth information related to each carrierand the like, which will be explained in detail later.

When the terminal receives the system information related to the basestation-supportable multi-carriers from the base station through abroadcast message or the like, the terminal configures informationregarding the carriers which the terminal is able to support or prefersin the multi-carrier list included in the system information, and sendsthe configured information to the base station through a unicast message(S403).

The information regarding the carriers, which the terminal is able tosupport or prefers, may be configured as an index value or in a bitmapform, which will be described in detail later.

Upon reception of the information regarding the carriers, which theterminal is able to support or prefers, from the terminal, the basestation allocates a primary carrier and a secondary carrier, which theterminal will use, and sends the primary and secondary carriers to theterminal through a unicast message (S405).

Hereinafter, description will be given in detail of structures ofmulti-carrier related information and messages sent at each of theaforesaid steps with reference to FIG. 4.

TABLE 1 Size Name (Bits) Description Broadcast system SFH, ABI oradditional system information { information message ...... Network entryenabling 1 Indicating whether or not network entry to the base stationvia the current carrier is enabled MC indication 1 1: base stationsupports multi-carrier operations 0: base station does not supportmulti- carrier operations If (MC indication==1) { Number of MC — Thenumber of supportable carriers for (i=0; 1<No. of MC; i++) { Carrierindex — Index of corresponding carrier Type of carrier 1 Type of thecorresponding carrier 0b0: fully configured carrier 0b1: partiallyconfigured carrier Center frequency — Relative position of thecorresponding carrier based on currently accessed carrier Bandwidth —Network entry enabling 1 Indicating whether or not network entry usingthe corresponding carrier is enabled partially configured carrier is setto 0 ...... } }

Table 1 shows multi-carrier related system information broadcast by thebase station.

Referring to Table 1, a network entry enabling information fieldindicates whether or not a terminal is able to perform the network entryto the base station via the current carrier. For a terminal thatsupports a single carrier and performs a network entry, if the bit ofthe field is disabled into 0, the terminal performs a process ofsearching for another frequency band. For a terminal that supports amulti-carrier, when the corresponding bit is disabled into 0, theterminal performs a process of searching for a carrier that the bit isenabled to 1 and allows performing of a network entry procedure, andperforms the network entry as soon as finding the corresponding carrier.

An MC indication field indicates whether or not the base stationsupports a multi-carrier operation.

A number of MC field indicates the number of supported multi-carrierswhen the base station supports the multi-carrier operation.

Assuming that the number of supported multi-carriers is N, systeminformation may be provided for each of the N carriers. The systeminformation may include index information indicating the sequence ofeach carrier, carrier type information indicating whether thecorresponding carrier is a fully configured carrier or a partiallyconfigured carrier, center frequency (CF) information related to eachcarrier, bandwidth information related to each carrier, network entryenabling information indicating whether or not the network entry isenabled using the corresponding carrier, and the like.

Table 2 shows an example that the CF information related to each carrierincluded in the system information of Table 1 is expressed as anrelative value.

TABLE 2 Size Name (Bits) Description ...... Center frequency — Relativeposition of the corresponding carrier based on currently accessedcarrier Unit: 2.5 MHz Bit#3(MSB): indicating direction from the currentcarrier 0b0: indicating of being located at the front of (before: −) thecurrently accessed carrier 0b1: indicating of being located at the backof (after: +) the currently accessed carrier Bit#0, #1, #2: indicatingrelative values (unit: 2.5 MHz) 0b0000: (−) 2.5 MHz 0b0001: (−) 5 MHz0b0010: (−) 7.5 MHz 0b0011: (−) 10 MHz 0b0100: (−) 12.5 MHz 0b0101: (−)15 MHz . . . 0b1000: (+) 2.5 MHz 0b1001: (+) 5 MHz 0b1010: (+) 7.5 MHz0b1011: (+) 10 MHz . . . ......

Referring to Table 2, in case of existence of a plurality of carriers inthe base station, the center frequency of each carrier may be expressedin the manner of indicating a relative position of each carrier based ona center frequency of a currently accessed carrier. A unit of a bitvalue indicating the relative position is 2.5 MHz.

One bit of bits expressing a relative value indicates a direction (e.g.,before (front) (−) or after (back) (+)) based on the current position(MSB or LSB), and the other bits indicate a value moved (changed) asmuch as a set unit.

For example, if the center frequency of the current carrier is 2.450 GHzand a carrier A is located 10 MHz before the current carrier (i.e.,2.440 GHz), the center frequency information bit value of the carrier Ais ‘0b0011’ according to Table 2.

Thus, the position of each carrier is indicated by the relative valueother than an absolute value, resulting in indicating the plurality ofcarriers only by less bit information.

The unit indicating the relative value may appropriately be selectedaccording to system environments.

Table 3 shows an example that center frequency information related toeach carrier included in the system information of Table 1 is expressedas a relative value in the unit of 5 MHz.

TABLE 3 Size Name (Bits) Description ...... Center frequency — Relativeposition of the corresponding carrier based on currently accessedcarrier Unit: 5 MHz Bit#3(MSB): indicating direction from the currentcarrier 0b0: indicating of being located at the front of (before: −) thecurrently accessed carrier 0b1: indicating of being located at the backof (after: +) the currently accessed carrier Bit#0, #1, #2: indicatingrelative value (unit: 5 MHz) 0b0000: (−) 5 MHz 0b0001: (−) 10 MHz0b0010: (−) 15 MHz 0b0011: (−) 20 MHz 0b0100: (−) 25 MHz 0b0101: (−) 30MHz . . . 0b1000: (+) 5 MHz 0b1001: (+) 10 MHz 0b1010: (+) 15 MHz0b1011: (+) 20 MHz . . . ......

FIG. 5 is a view illustrating an exemplary embodiment of a framestructure supporting a multi-carrier. If it is assumed that thebandwidth (BW) of all of the carriers (carrier 1, carrier 2, carrier3and carrier 4) is the same as 10 MHz, the center frequency (CF) of thecarrier 1 is 2.45 GHz, the CF of the carrier 2 is 2.46 GHz, the CF ofthe carrier 3 is 2.47 GHz and the CF of the carrier 4 is 2.48 GHz, therelative CF information of the multi-carriers indicated in the systeminformation transferred via the carrier 3 is described as follows.

Here, if it is assumed that the unit of the bit value indicating therelative position is 2.5 MHz, the CF of the carrier 1 is located 20 MHzbefore the CF of the current carrier (carrier 3), the CF of the carrier2 is located 10 MHz before the CF of the current carrier (carrier 3),the CF of the carrier 4 is located 10 MHz after the CF of the currentcarrier (carrier 3), the size of the information bit indicating the CFis 5 bits, MSB indicates a direction, and the other 4 bits indicate arelative spaced gap value from the reference, the CF values of therespective carriers may be indicated as ‘0b00111’ (CF of carrier 1),‘0b00011’ (CF of carrier 2) and ‘0b10011’ (CF of carrier 4).

As illustrated with reference to FIG. 4, after receiving the basicsystem information related to the multi-carriers from the base stationvia the broadcast system information, the terminal sends informationregarding whether or not it supports the multi-carrier operation and ifso, informs the base station of carrier lists that it prefers in themulti-carrier list included in the system information. The terminal maysend its own information regarding the multi-carriers to the basestation through a unicast message, such as a ranging request message(RNG-REQ), a registration request message (REG-REQ), a multi-carrierrequest message, or the like.

Here, the carrier information transferred to the base station may beexpressed by an index value or in a bitmap form.

Table 4 shows that the carrier information transferred from the terminalto the base station are expressed as index values.

TABLE 4 Fields Length Notes No. of MC — The number of carriers (RF) thatthe terminal supports Availability flag 1 0: unable to use any 1: ableto use all If (availability flag==0) { No. of MC 4 The number ofcarriers that the terminal is able to use in the carrier lists of thebase station for (i=0; i<No. of MC; i++) { Carrier index 6 Indexes ofthe carriers that are useable or preferred in the carrier indexinformation of the base station } }

Referring to Table 4, ‘No. of MC’ indicates the number of carriers thatthe terminal is able to support, and ‘Availability flag’ indicateswhether or not the terminal is able to use all of the multi-carrierlists supported by the base station. If a bit value of ‘Availabilityflag’ is set to 0, it indicates that the terminal is unable to use anyof the multi-carrier (MC) lists supported by the base station. If thebit value thereof is set to 1, it indicates that the terminal is able touse all of the multi-carrier (MC) lists supported by the base station.

If the terminal is unable to use any of the MC lists (i.e., if the bitvalue of ‘Availability flag’ is set to 0), the terminal informs of thenumber of multi-carriers that it is able to use.

Also, the terminal may inform of index information regarding each of thecarriers that the terminal is able to use or prefers, and in some cases,transfer index information regarding non-useable carriers instead of theinformation regarding the useable carriers.

The index information may also be implemented in a manner of configuringa useable carrier combination for transmission.

Besides, the index information may be sent by further includinginformation related to a frequency band that the terminal supports,maximum frequency band information and the like.

Table 5 shows that carrier information transferred from the terminal tothe base station are expressed in a bitmap form.

TABLE 5 Fields Length Notes No. of MC [4] The number of carriers (RF)that the terminal supports Availability flag 1 If (availability flag==0){ Available carrier index Variable Indicating index information bitmaprelated to carriers that are useable and preferred, among the carrierindex information of the base station, in a bitmap form. If bit is setto 1, it indicates that the corresponding carrier is useable. Size isthe same as the number of supportable multi-carriers received viabroadcast system information. }

Tables 4 and 5 have showed that one set of information related to thecarriers that the terminal is able to use or prefers is sent to the basestation as the index value or in the bitmap form. Alternatively, theterminal may inform the base station of one or more combinations relatedto the multi-carrier information that it can use.

Tables 6 and 7 show that the terminal combines corresponding availablecarrier information as many as the number of candidate carriers that theterminal itself is supportable and expresses the combinations in anindex form (Table 6) or a bitmap form (Table 7).

TABLE 6 Fields Length Notes Availability flag 1 If (availabilityflag==0) { N_Candidate_sets 2 The number of candidates of Carriercombinations that the terminal is able to receive for (i=0;i<N_Candidate_sets; i++) { No. of MC 4 The number of carriers that theterminal is useable for (i=0; i<No. of MC; i++) { Carrier index 6Indexes of carriers useable or preferred in the carrier indexinformation of the base station } }

TABLE 7 Fields Length Notes Availability flag 1 If (availabilityflag==0) { N_Candidate_sets 2 The number of candidates of Carriercombinations that the terminal is able to receive for (i=0;i<N_Candidate_sets; i++) { Available carrier index variable Indicatinginformation related to bitmap combinations of carriers useable andpreferred, among carrier index information of the base station. Each bitindicates physical carrier index allocated by the base station, and whenthe corresponding bit is set to 1, it indicates that the carrier isuseable. Size is the same as the number of multi-carriers that the basestation is able to support, received via broadcast system information. }}

FIG. 6 illustrates a multi-carrier frame structure including eightconsecutive carriers each having a bandwidth of 5 MHz. If the terminalis able to use four consecutive 5 MHz bandwidth carriers from carrier 1to carrier 4, the terminal may inform the base station of informationregarding carriers, which the terminal prefers or is able to support, byuse of a unicast message.

Here, when the terminal transfers the carrier information using theindex method, the terminal configures each index (Index 1, 2, 3 and 4)of each multi-carrier as ‘carrier index’ field to send to the basestation. When the terminal transfers the carrier information using thebitmap method, the terminal sets the bitmap of ‘Available carrier indexbitmap’ field to ‘00001111 to send to the base station.

FIG. 7 illustrates a multi-carrier frame structure including 8 carrierswith bandwidths of 5 MHz and 10 MHz. When the base station supportingthe multi-carrier supports totally 8 carriers including 4 carriers eachhaving 10 MHz size and 4 carriers each having 5 MHz size, if theterminal is able to support the multi-carriers at 20 MHz band, thefollowing carrier combinations may be configured.

-   -   Combination 1: consecutive 25 MHz carriers (10 MHz carrier1+10        MHz carrier2+5 MHz carrier3)    -   Combination 2: separate 10 MHz carriers and 15 MHz carrier (10        MHz carrier1+5 MHz carrier4+10 MHz carrier5)

Here, if the terminal informs the base station of its available carrierinformation by the bitmap method, the bitmap for each combination may beset as follows.

-   -   Combination 1: 00000111    -   Combination 2: 00011001

As aforementioned with reference to FIG. 4, after receiving the carrierlist that the terminal is able to support or prefers in the form of theunicast message, the base station uses the received carrier list toselect a primary carrier and a secondary carrier, which the terminalwill use, so as to send to the terminal. The base station may send thecarrier allocation information to the terminal via a unicast message,such as RNG-RSP, SBC-RSP, REG-RSP or the like.

The allocated carrier information may be expressed as an index value(Table 8) or in a bitmap form (Table 9).

Table 8 shows that the allocated carrier information is expressed as theindex value.

TABLE 8 Fields Length Notes Primary carrier index — Primary carrierindex information No. of SC — The number of secondary carriers for (i=0;i<No. of SC; i++) { Secondary carrier index — Secondary carrier indexinformation }

Table 9 shows that the allocated carrier information is expressed in thebitmap form.

TABLE 9 Fields Length Notes Primary carrier index — Primary carrierindex information Secondary carrier index — The base station indicatessecondary bitmap carrier index information in a bitmap form. Thecorresponding carrier having a bit set to 1 is set to secondary carrierin the terminal

As such, upon receiving the primary and secondary carrier allocationinformation from the base station, the terminal completes the networkentry procedure or carries out a data transmission/reception with thebase station via the corresponding carriers.

The method having described so far may be implemented by software,hardware or combination thereof. For example, the method may be storedin a storage medium (for example, an internal memory of a terminal, aflash memory, a hard disc, etc.), and implemented as codes or commandswithin a software program, which may be executed by a processor (forexample, a microprocessor within the terminal).

The foregoing embodiments and advantages are merely illustrative andthus should not be construed as limiting the present disclosure. Manyalternatives, modifications or variations will be derived from theexemplary embodiments within the scope and the claims of the presentdisclosure.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for operating a plurality of carriers by a user equipment in a wireless communication system supporting a primary carrier and at least one secondary carrier, the method comprising: transmitting, to a base station, carrier capability information; receiving, from the base station, carrier configuration information, the carrier configuration information including an index of the at least one secondary carrier configured for the user equipment, the carrier configuration information being based upon the carrier capability information of the user equipment, the primary carrier being configured as a carrier for performing an initial network entry procedure; receiving, from the base station, a control channel including information regarding multi-carrier operation through the primary carrier; and transmitting, to the base station, traffic through one of the at least one secondary carrier based on the information regarding multi-carrier operation.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier capability information indicates information of a maximum bandwidth supported by the user equipment.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier capability information indicates a number of carriers supported by the user equipment.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the carrier capability information is transmitted during the initial network entry procedure.
 5. A method for operating a plurality of carriers by a base station in a wireless communication system supporting a primary carrier and a secondary carrier, the method comprising: receiving, from a user equipment, carrier capability information; transmitting, to the user equipment, carrier configuration information, the carrier configuration information including an index of the at least one secondary carrier configured for the user equipment, the carrier configuration information being based upon the carrier capability information of the user equipment, the primary carrier being configured as a carrier for performing an initial network entry procedure; transmitting, to the user equipment, a control channel including information regarding multi-carrier operation through the primary carrier; and receiving, from the user equipment, traffic through one of the at least one secondary carrier based on the information regarding multi-carrier operation.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the carrier capability information indicates information of a maximum bandwidth supported by the user equipment.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein the carrier capability information indicates a number of carriers supported by the user equipment.
 8. The method of claim 5, wherein the carrier capability information is transmitted during the initial network entry procedure.
 9. A user equipment for operating a plurality of carriers in a wireless communication system supporting a primary carrier and at least one secondary carrier, the user equipment comprising: a transmitter configured to transmit, to a base station, carrier capability information; and a receiver configured to receive, from the base station, carrier configuration information, the carrier configuration information including an index of the at least one secondary carrier configured for the user equipment, the carrier configuration information being based upon the carrier capability information of the user equipment, the primary carrier being configured as a carrier for performing an initial network entry procedure, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive, from the base station, a control channel including information regarding multi-carrier operation through the primary carrier, and wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit, to the base station, traffic through one of the at least one secondary carrier based on the information regarding multi-carrier operation.
 10. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein the carrier capability information indicates information of a maximum bandwidth supported by the user equipment.
 11. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein the carrier capability information indicates a number of carriers supported by the user equipment.
 12. The user equipment of claim 9, wherein the carrier capability information is transmitted during the initial network entry procedure.
 13. A base station for operating a plurality of carriers in a wireless communication system supporting a primary carrier and a secondary carrier, the base station comprising: a receiver configured to receive, from a user equipment, carrier capability information; and a transmitter configured to transmit, to the user equipment, carrier configuration information, the carrier configuration information including an index of the at least one secondary carrier configured for the user equipment, the carrier configuration information being based upon the carrier capability information of the user equipment, the primary carrier being configured as a carrier for performing an initial network entry procedure, wherein the transmitter is further configured to transmit, to the user equipment, a control channel including information regarding multi-carrier operation through the primary carrier, and wherein the receiver is further configured to receive, from the user equipment, traffic through one of the at least one secondary carrier based on the information regarding multi-carrier operation.
 14. The base station of claim 13, wherein the carrier capability information indicates information of a maximum bandwidth supported by the user equipment.
 15. The base station of claim 13, wherein the carrier capability information indicates a number of carriers supported by the user equipment.
 16. The base station of claim 13, wherein the carrier capability information is transmitted during the initial network entry procedure. 